VERGAS, MN (KDLM) – The Vergas Looney Days Weiner Dog races will be held at the Vergas Ballpark at 9 am on Saturday, August 13th.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years already,” said Digger Anderson, who coordinates the running of the wieners every year. “But here we are again. We’re expecting up to 50 wieners, it’s gonna be crazy. It’s gonna be all wieners all the time in Vergas that Saturday.”
The race, now in its 10th year, began in 2012 after a brainstorming session for something unique that Vergas could do for their annual festival.
“They said, ‘we need to come up with something fresh.’ So I suggested wiener dog races.” recalls Anderson. “They looked at me like ‘Digger, have you lost your mind?’ I had done a couple of wiener races in the cities and they went over really well. They said ‘we don’t have any wiener dogs around here.’ I told them to let me go to work on it and see what happens,”
In 2012, there were 25 wieners in the inaugural races. This year, Anderson expects around 60, plus around 3,000 spectators shuffling through the ballpark to watch a race or two then head downtown to shop the merchants and check out the rest of the Looney Days activities.
“We’ve had wieners from ten states over the years,” said Anderson. “As far away as Texas, Rhode Island, California…most of our weiners come from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas. But we’ve already got a wiener coming from Las Vegas this year that is all registered and ready to go.”
Wieners can get registration information on the Vergas Wiener Dogs Facebook page, or register before the event. Racing starts at 9 am sharp. First place in the race gets a handcrafted trophy from Forest Edge Gallery of Vergas. There will also be a random drawing for another trophy.
“If it looks like a wiener and acts like a wiener, it can run,” says Anderson. “We’ll have wieners of all shapes, sizes, colors, lengths, heights…it’s crazy and so much fun. It’s really grown over the years, and it just keeps getting bigger every year,”
